


Tamed

by widowbitesandhearingaids



Category: Preacher (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Cocaine, Jealous!Cassidy, Lots of OCs - Freeform, M/M, other assorted vampire nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 17:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7324360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widowbitesandhearingaids/pseuds/widowbitesandhearingaids
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Proinsius Cassidy likes to party. But when some of his vampire pals roll into town and bring trouble with them. Trouble that puts a certain pastor in danger, and Cassidy just won't have that</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tamed

It had to be Ireland’s worst kept secret that Proinsias Cassidy liked to have a good time. Loved to have a good time in fact, and bugger the consequences. There wasn’t much to do in Middle-of-Fuck-All-Nowhere-Annville, Texas, but between stealing communion wine from the church and getting well and truly pissed with the town’s less-than-pious preacher man, Jesse Custer, Cassidy didn’t have to worry about being sober. The sun, he did have to worry about - bleedin’ Christ the sun in Texas was brutal - but he was usually sleeping off the effects of the night before when it hit its peak.

Which was exactly what he was doing when a few of his old mates rolled into town. There he was, passed out cold in the attic of the church when four vampires strolled into merry ol’ Annville. Part of him - the vampire part - stirred. Blood calls to blood, or so the old stories said, and a primal part of Cassidy knew when other vampires were about. But the Irishman was still piss-drunk and didn’t give a fuck, blood tie or no. So Cassidy slept on, blissfully ignorant.

Behind them by several hours was a motley group of humans. Men and women of all different ages, crammed into a van with no air conditioning, and driving through the midday heat. They were sweating, uncomfortable, and brimming with righteous purpose. Anyone who might have seen them would never peg them for family, maybe not even coworkers, but they were all bound by the same goal: Killing vampires.

As it so happened, there were quite a few vampires in Annville at the moment. A couple of angels, too. Also, Jesse Custer, and Heaven only knew what the fuck he was.

***

“Proinsias Cassidy, you barmy son of a bitch.” Cassidy, bedecked in his traditional sunglasses and mismatched outfit of stolen clothes, looked up from where he’d sprawled over the church pews to see a collection of figures standing in the doorway. The parishioners had long since gone home, even Emily, who always stayed late, working on some project or other. She never had a kind word for Cassidy - in fact, he’d heard some rather unkind ones come out of her pretty mouth - but he had a fondness for her all the same. That is to say, she wasn’t on his shortlist of who to eat when he eventually got hungry.

Which would be soon, if the hollowness in his stomach was any indication.

“Seamus!” Cassidy shouted jovially, a whiskey-loose grin turning his lips up. The aforementioned bottle of whiskey was dangling from overlong fingers. He recognized the man immediately. Short little fucker with too much hair and a mouth on him that had gotten him killed. Cassidy’s eyes found the rest of the crew, recognizing them each in turn. “Kian. Bloody hell, mate, how are you still alive?”

“I’ve been asking meself the same question,” a pretty blonde named Aisling said, smiling a red smile meant to look like blood. “He an’ Eamon have gotten themselves into so much trouble you’d think they’d be worm food by now.” Cassidy loped to his feet, as was his custom, especially when there was alcohol involved, and there always was. His legs were simply too long and gangling to allow any other type of movement.

“Saints alive, what the hell are you lot doing here?” Cassidy asked, gaping happily at each and every one of them before clapping Seamus on the back. They’d been Turned together over a hundred years ago, back when the war was still on. You could always tell vampires made during wartime; they all had the same thin look about them and being undead, would never get any bigger. It was better for Seamus, he was small to begin with, but rationing and vampirism had turned Cassidy into one skinny scarecrow. Eamon and Kian were the same, though they’d cut their teeth in different wars before ambling back home to Ireland. The three men had ended up fighting the good fight with the IRA. It was surprising, the number of vampires working for Irish independence, though maybe not considering the weather. No sunny days for them to avoid, and meals were easy to come by, seeing that ever other man you saw was pissed out of his gourd. No one missed a drunk and their old home was full of them.

Aisling was the oldest and the last of her coven left alive. Cassidy had no idea she’d hooked up with this crew, but all of them together smelled like a bloody good time. Cassidy hadn’t met anyone with a mind for violence quite like Aisling, and he’d been bare-knuckle boxing since he was a lad, and human. Not that you could tell by looking at her, tiny slip of a thing, hardly five feet tall. She looked like one of Jesse’s angels, all gold hair and blue eyes. But by God, Cassidy had never seen anything so beautiful as that girl covered in blood -

Well, besides a certain holy man with a penchant for violence himself.

“We could ask you the same question,” Eamon said, his gaze sliding around the ramshackle church. “This place is a bit of a dry shite, innit? Not your usual haunt, Cass.”

“That it ain’t,” Cassidy agreed, but part of him couldn’t be sorry for landing in Annville. A certain man with ridiculous hair came to mind and he pushed the thoughts away again. You fuckin’ sap, Cassidy, get yer head on straight. “But I landed here by accident. Took a tumble out of a 747 after meetin’ and killin’ some of our vampire hunting mates.”

“You jumped out of a plane?” Seamus repeated, sounding both amused and impressed.

“Fell with purpose, more like. Had t’drain a whole cow to get back on me feet. Yeh can still see the crater.” There was a pause before the four vampires burst into uproarious laughter and applause.

“You mad bastard!” Kian said, clapping Cassidy on the back, as Eamon said with pride, “Same ol’ Cass.” 

“Cassidy?” a familiar voice came from the doorway. Cassidy’s heart tripped - a strange turn of phrase considering it didn’t technically beat anymore - as Jesse walked into the church. He looked beautiful, backlit by the sunset that the vampires scrambled all away from. Cassidy took a swig of whiskey to keep his mouth occupied. Though he’d much rather have his lips around something else entirely.

“Padre!” Cassidy said cheerfully when he was composed again - as composed as a 119 year old drunken vampire could be around a man like Jesse Custer. “Like yeh t’meet some of me mates from the Old Country.” Cassidy quickly made the introductions, trying not to twitch when Aisling’s eyes lingered on Jesse for a beat too long. The girl had an appetite and Cassidy was just now remembering that they shared the same taste in men. Lasses too, but that was less of a problem here. Women in this town were homely at best, unless you counted the whores. Annville had a stunning collection of prostitutes, though one had just died in an accident. Pity. 

“Where can we get a drink around here?” Kian asked without preamble. Thank God for Irish alcoholism, Cassidy thought only with only a touch of irony, considering that they were in a church and four of the five were already damned. “Don’ tell me this shitehole town ain’t got a pub.” Jesse’s face tightened at the slight but he put on his best preacher smile and turned the other cheek, as it were.

“There’s a bar in the middle of town,” he said. “Cassidy here already knows where it is, and make sure he tells you about how we met.” Jesse winked and Cassidy did something complicated with his eyebrows in reply. If the blood in his veins were his own, he’d blush. As it was, he nicked the keys to the church van – surely Emily would have a whole litter of pushy kittens when she found out – and they all piled in. They passed another van on the road, one brimming with cramped people and blessed weapons, but none of the vampires noticed, too intent on getting to the bar and getting pissed.

The place was practically empty and the vampires quickly made themselves at home, ordering what would’ve been a staggering amount of alcohol if they’d been human and was even a little much for their undead metabolisms. It didn’t matter. Cassidy was happy to be away from the church and away from Jesse – it wasn’t that he didn’t trust this crowd but that was exactly it. He promised the preacher no snacking on his flock and Cassidy hadn’t liked the way Aisling looked at him. He was going to have to keep an eye on her, that was for bloody certain.

His worry was quickly drowned in whiskey and flaming tequila shots, chased by too many cigarettes and several lines of coke done off of the bar – and one off of Kian, who’d been staring at Cassidy all night. Cassidy stared right back, wondering if he could fuck the preacher out of his system. Kian wasn’t a bad lay and there was always a chance one of the others would want in on the action. Maybe they’d stop by the whorehouse later and make it a party. They could get something to eat there too. Like drunks, no one cried when whores went missing. No one but that Tulip lass who’d been skulking about the church lately, and Cassidy would know all about skulking. He did a fair bit of it himself. She and Jesse had a past, Cassidy was sure of it, but he’d cultivated a certain blasé attitude and he’d be damned if he messed it up by showing that he cared. 

Cassidy was on his way to convincing himself that all he needed to forget Jesse Custer was a blowjob and more cocaine when Aisling sidled over to him.

“So you and the preacher,” she started in that voice that was always so much more refined than the rest of them – and knew it too. “Feeding or fucking?” Cassidy nearly choked on his drink, hearing that kind of language out of their delicate flower.

“None a’ the above,” Cassidy said, wiping his nose and trying to look convincing.

Aisling did not look the tiniest bit convinced.

“He’s a preacher, Ais,” Cassidy tried again. “Man o’ God? Doubt he’s letting anyone under the collar, let alone blokes. Leviticus and all t’at.” The vampire just pursed her bloody lips, looking thoughtful in a way that could only mean trouble. Trouble Cassidy would’ve invited on any other day, but when it came to the preacher, there were limits.

“So who have you been eating then?” she asked, tapping a clawed finger on her lip.

“Been tryin’ not t’eat me friend’s flock, if you take my meaning,” Cassidy said significantly, wishing that she’d drop the bloody subject. He had no claim on Jesse and even after 119 years he was a rubbish liar. She’d see right through him.

“Interesting. I think this town might’a tamed you, Cass.” Not the town, just someone in it, Cassidy thought, but he sure as shite wasn’t about to say it out loud. There was a reason Aisling was still alive and it wasn’t because she was easy to fool.

“Think you underestimate how boring this godforsaken place is,” he replied as cavalierly as he could manage. Cassidy was in the middle of trying to figure out how to distance himself from Jesse in Aisling’s eyes while still making him off-limits when the man himself walked into the bar. Cassidy wanted to shout at Jesse to leave and leave now – being in a room full of drunk, horny, hungry vampires was a keen way to get him killed.

As it turned out, they had bigger problems. Jesse had hardly sat down beside Cassidy when something flew through the window, shattering the glass. Cassidy could rarely recall a time he was completely sober, but he shook off the whiskey mighty quick then.

“Get down!” he shouted, pulling Jesse under the bar a split second before the building exploded with fire and light. Seamus screamed curses as the synthesized violet light lit his skin ablaze and then there was chaos. Four pissed, snarling vampires and a preacher who could control people’s minds with his voice, against a dozen vampire hunters decked out with a truly excessive number of weapons.

Roaring, Cassidy leaped forward, grabbing one of the hunters and twisting his arm off before he could so much as scream. He didn’t think, just acted, pulling the man closer and sucking greedily at the blood pouring out of where his arm should’ve been. He didn’t even drain the man half-dry when another one of the zealous fucking wankers shot at him with a crossbow. Cassidy pulled the bolt out of his chest and threw it aside, snatching a bottle off of the bar, shattering it, and plunging the remains into the hunter’s eye socket. Around him, the others were holding their own, even poor burned Seamus. Cassidy had expected Jesse to have stopped the violence by now, commanded them all to cease or something, but the padre was silent. In fact, when Cassidy went to look for him, he wasn’t there at all.

“Bloody fuckin’ hell!” he swore, shooting out the door and leaving the rest of them behind.

“He’s not their kind of demon,” one of the hunters – a woman – said to her companion as they dragged Jesse’s unconscious body into their van. “He’s something else. Did you see what he made Rolf do? He shot himself!” The woman sounded aghast and when Cassidy turned the corner he could see that Jesse’s face was busted up something fierce, as were the hunters dragging him away. He was one hell of a fighter, the preacher, but he was only human and there were too many of them.

“He ain’t a demon at all, you fuckin’ arseholes,” Cassidy snarled, leaping at both of them. It might have been gentlemanly to give them a warning, Cassidy wasn’t feeling all to charitable at the moment. The woman scrambled, reaching for her weapon but Cassidy was faster. He sank his teeth into her throat, thinking that it was a damn same vampires didn’t have fangs like they did in the movies, or this would hurt a lot less. Then again, he wanted it to hurt. When he was done tearing out the woman’s throat and gulping down as much of her blessed, hypocrital blood as he could stand, Cassidy whirled on the other.

“Stay back, abomination,” the man said, pushing a gun against Jesse’s lolling head. The preacher was half-in, half-out of the van, his legs dangling uselessly on the dusty ground.

“Always wit’ the name-callin’,” Cassidy cajoled, a reflex. Never like them think you give a damn. Smile and joke till the bitter end. Although smiling and joking was tough when his vision was stained red and the stolen blood in his veins thrummed so loud it was almost like have a heartbeat again. “It’s jus’ not nice, yah know.”

“I’ll do it, I swear I’ll – ” Cassidy never heard the end of the sentence because a angelic figure pounced onto the man’s back and sank her teeth into his throat. The other vampires followed, each biting the man in kind. The hunter screamed, a horrifying sound that soon tapered off into a wet gurgle from being drained so quickly by so many, but Cassidy was more focused as Jesse. He dove forward as the hunter’s grip faltered, catching the preacher before he could hit the ground and pulling Jesse’s head into his lap.

“God almighty,” Cassidy swore. “Wake up, you bleedin’ alcoholic waste of a holy man. Wake up.” Jesse hardly stirred and Cassidy was overwhelmed with the smell of his blood. Jesse was bleeding from a dozen scrapes and scratches all over his arms and face. Cassidy could hear the steady thump of his heartbeat and forced himself not to listen. Now was not the time. Maybe later, but not now.

“Oh good, you’ve got a spare,” Eamon said, blood bright on his lips as he lifted his head away from the hunter’s corpse. “I’m still starving.”

“Not on your bloody life,” Cassidy snarled, pulling Jesse closer and as far away from them as he could manage.

“C’mon, Cass,” Kian wheedled. “Share.” Seamus and Aisling just looked on, identical expressions on their faces.

“I swear to fuck if either of you rat bastards come a step closer I will rip off your legs and beat you with them.” In his arms, Jesse was beginning to stir. Relief and horror dawned on Cassidy in equal measure. If Jesse tried to run, he was dead for sure. The vampires would give chase and he wouldn’t stand a chance. “You too Seamus. I don’ care that we’re mates, this one’s mine.” Cassidy hoped that Jesse wasn’t conscious enough to hear that.

“You have been tamed,” Aisling mused. Cassidy held his breath, expecting violence to break out, but she just shot the preacher another too-appreciative look and waved them all away. “Enjoy Texas, Cassidy,” she threw behind her as they all walked away and it occurred to him that they might have been his way out of this shitehole. But with Jesse starting to wake up and still bleeding heavily, Cassidy couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Cass?” Jesse mumbled, gazing up at him with wide, dark eyes. “You’re…there’s – ”

“Blood?” Cassidy finished. “Part a’ being a vampire, preacher man.” Jesse blinked twice, realization dawning.

“I thought you were kidding.”

“Wasn’t.” Cassidy leaned down, inhaling the heady scent of Jesse’s blood when something occurred to him. “Can I try something? Stop th’ bleeding?”

“You’re not gonna bite me, are you?” Jesse said, obviously taking in the sight of the ruined hunters all around him. Cassidy was going to have a hell of a time cleaning those messes up, but that was a problem for later.

“Cross my heart.” Slowly, Jesse nodded and Cassidy nosed at the cuts along his neck, running his tongue against the wounds. Immediately, they started to close. Cassidy made a pleased sound and got to work on the others, tonguing as much of Jesse’s skin as he had an excuse too and then just a little more. Couldn’t really blame him.

Cassidy froze as long fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him so that he and Jesse were eye to eye.

“If it took almost dying to get your mouth on me, what’s a gonna cost for a kiss?” Jesse asked. Cassidy laughed, a bright, startled thing before he bought his lips down to meet Jesse’s. His lips lasted like blood, and Cassidy could swear he’d never tasted anything sweeter.

**Author's Note:**

> First ever Preacher fic, because there is a serious lack of Jesse/Cassidy fic 
> 
> Also follow me on [ tumblr](http://ballerinawidow.tumblr.com/)


End file.
